


Freefall

by DuchessPoint (Watergirl14)



Category: Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Friendship/Love, Gymnastics, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2015-09-26
Packaged: 2019-04-07 05:45:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14074197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Watergirl14/pseuds/DuchessPoint
Summary: Raven found Robin on the roof.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A quick two-shot from Tumblr.

Raven thought that he looked beautiful.

She didn’t think that he would appreciate the thought. Most of the men she knew would bristle at the prospect of being beautiful. Something about being a feminine word.

He sat on the edge of the tower, looking out over the open ocean as the sun was gently setting in the sky, now and then vanishing behind a stray cloud. From the doorway back into their home she could not see much, only the tufts of his hair being blown back and forth in the wind.

She wondered if he was going to jump. He did that sometimes, diving gracefully, betraying his life before joining the Titans. The first time he’d tried, it had scared Starfire so much that she had swept down and caught him by his ankle, breaking it. After all, it was 13 floors at last count, and he was only human. 

Toes not touching the ground below her, Raven slowly made her way over, glancing at the water below. To her, it did not look quite so high, but then again, she knew she could catch herself before she hit the surface.

She had only just started to approach the edge when he moved, glancing to look at her over his shoulder, just staring. She couldn’t help but wonder what his eyes were saying behind that mask. When Raven sat, he hadn’t yet taken his eyes off of her.

His gaze was too intense for her to look over at him, even through the fabric. She looked out, wondering what he’d been lost in thought over. Was it the gentle waves? The last glimmers of the day? A tiny sailboat? Or had he been taken back into the past, or into the future?

Raven could feel his stare burning into her cheek, but it didn’t matter. She would not blush and she was used to it. Instead, she pointedly set her hand down on the roof.

It was but an instant before he’d threaded his fingers through hers.

Now she looked at him. Through the mask she could just faintly make out the hints of his eyelashes and eyebrows, but nothing else. Then again, she’d been inside his mind enough times to know that his eyes were a lovely blue.

Robin drew in a deep breath, finally turning back to the ocean. “Today is my parents’ wedding anniversary.”

Raven squeezed his hand. The sun had finally vanished behind the horizon.

“I was going to jump,” he continued. “I wanted to feel what it was like for them, to be in free fall like that.” He tipped his head back, looked up into the last glimmers of the day. “Doing what they loved one minute and falling to their deaths the next.”

She lowered her hood and pondered for a moment. “You can still jump.”

“It’s not the same.” He gently pulled his hand back, stood up, toes dangling over the edge of the building. “I’ve jumped dozens of times, and it’s never like that. It’s frightening, but not a surprise. It’s survivable.”

He stretched out a hand towards her - she took it, though she didn’t need it, and pulled herself to her feet. “Should it not be?”

Robin was silent much longer than she would have liked.

Leaning slightly, Raven peered over the edge. The water was rapidly becoming dark with the sky.

“I’ll jump with you.”

“Raven, that’s insane.”

She snapped back to his face. “You wanting to jump off the tower is insane. A normal person wouldn’t survive that.”

He bristled. “Am I not a normal person?”

“Hardly.” She held her hand out again - he grabbed it quickly and almost angrily. “The fall won’t hurt me - I can fly, I can catch you.”

A scoff. “What’s the point of free fall if there’s a safety net?”

“Robin.” Raven stepped forward, looking up at him. Now she was close enough that she could make out the blue of his eyes. His expression softened, and she felt his thumb idly brush the back of her hand. “It’s getting dark. If you’re going to jump, we might as well jump together. Even they didn’t fall alone.”

The wind was picking up, announcing the night. She gently tugged him to the edge and he didn’t fight it.

“I’ll catch you,” she said again.

They leapt. The wind rushing into her ears was familiar. She felt only contentment as she watched Robin dive from inches away, expressions she couldn’t read rapidly shifting across his face. With her powers enveloping them both at the last instant, they slid into the water with nary a ripple. Soon the two were treading water at the surface, uniforms soaked. It had been only seconds.

He peeled off his mask. No doubt the wet fabric was uncomfortable.  “Are you okay?”

Raven nodded. “Just cold.”

“Thank you.”

He pulled her into an embrace without thinking and they briefly sank before Raven lifted them up with her powers. He didn’t let go, and they floated there mid-air for a second wrapped in each other, shivering in the breeze.

She pulled away first. “Let’s go inside. I could use some tea.”

“Yeah.” He smiled a bit. “Me too.”

Raven couldn’t help it - she returned the grin. It was a good look for him after all.

They made their way back up to the tower’s doors in comfortable silence, but he stopped her before she could walk inside. “Raven…I didn’t know…I mean…”

“Yes?”

“Falling with someone helped,” he blurted. “Falling with you helped.” Now he looked away for a second. “For a second there I wasn’t sure if you would…”

“We’re teammates,” Raven said pointedly. “I’ll always catch you if I can.”

Robin nodded slowly. They walked inside in silence until they made it to the kitchen. Luckily the other Titans were elsewhere in the tower. They set to making some chamomile with efficiency that betrayed their practice. A ritual of theirs to share a hot drink before sunrise now displaced to just after sunset. Soon the air was filled with the light whistle of the tea kettle.

As Raven was reaching for their mugs, she heard him softly say, “You’re beautiful when you dive.”

When she turned to face him, he wasn’t even blushing. Just smiling a little.

“So are you.”

He handed her the honey.


	2. Chapter 2

“You’re addicted to this.”

Flushed cheeks and ears filled with the rush of blood. Nothing but a heartbeat and the placidity of her face. She was unshakable. There was no doubt or hesitation in her as they fell. When he felt like he was going to break he just had to look to her and be calmed.

She made him feel safe and protected. 

It had started off on a whim - terrible feelings gave way to the adrenaline rush, to the always lingering fear that he wouldn’t survive. Bruce had tried to purge him of that reaction, and outwardly he’d managed to convince him that there wasn’t any shred of emotion. He could jump from building to building. Rush into danger. Manage a team. All of this scared him immensely, but he tried to hide it.

Except when he was falling, watching the world vanish, with her. There wasn’t any reason to hide.

The sun was gone again, and his teammates were tucked away, managing their own affairs. Beast Boy and Cyborg were probably arguing over something stupid and Starfire was probably upset about it. A completely normal scene. They had no idea where Robin and Raven went when they jumped. Maybe the team assumed they were working on a case.

In a way, they were, because Robin was starting to wonder if he was a basket case.

He chuckled and ran his hand through his hair. “I probably am.”

She’d stopped wearing her cloak up to the roof, even as the nights were getting colder. She said it was because she was sick of having to dry it so often. When she’d appear he’d grab at her hand and she’d let him take it.

They’d talk.

Sometimes it would be serious and brooding and he’d be angry with her for saying things that he didn’t want to admit to himself. Sometimes they’d laugh over something ridiculous. Often she’d look cold and he’d offer his cape for her, and she’d blush to match the red color. Once, she’d mentioned that he’d look good in black, and he said he’d need some blue, because then they would match.

No matter what, they’d always jump. Sometimes he’d laugh on the way down, or scream, or cry. But she had the same expression, a calm one, every time.

Tonight they were out by the light of the moon, his hand wrapped around hers. There was no wind but Raven was still wrapped in his cape. It seemed like she was always cold.

“Why?”

Robin shook his head. “I don’t know. You’re the empath, you tell me.”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the tremor go through her. His attention snapped to her - slim fingers were gripping the edge of the cape around her so hard that they were white.

“You look like you’re freezing.”

“I’m fine.” He doubted that.

Robin tugged her hand, gentle but insistent, and to his surprise she let herself be pulled closer to him. His fingers brushed the bare skin of her legs and they were like ice. It was his fault for having her come up here.

“What are you doing?”

He ignored her, instead sliding an arm over her shoulder. After so many jumps off the tower wrapped in her arms it seemed almost natural to hold her. For her part, Raven glued herself to him, still shivering.

“We don’t have to jump today,” he said softly. Her hair smelled nice.

She looked up with him, confused. She had moonlight in her eyes. “You don’t want to?”

No, he just wanted to get her warm. An unwelcome thought speared into his head - maybe he wouldn’t mind having more of her pressed up to him. Maybe for more than just warmth. He could picture her more snugly in his arms, maybe in his lap, maybe even inside, not on the roof.

He supposed it was safer on the roof, though. That way he could jump, and she would wrap herself around him as they plunged into the water, and then head inside for some hot tea and company. Then they’d head off to their own rooms and he’d sit up thinking about the way her hair flew in the breeze until an ungodly late hour. Then missions and briefings and seeing her in the kitchen at breakfast and trying not to ask her when the next time was.

“I’m not cold anymore,” Raven said, pressing up against him even more. He could have easily wrapped his other arm around her now that she’d turned into him, almost facing him straight on. A few more inches and she really would be in his lap, no maybes.

The dropping feeling in his stomach reminded him of free fall.

“Let’s go inside.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the Tumblr anon who requested the second part to this!


End file.
